Beauty,Power,Temptation
by kkworld12345
Summary: Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Hecate, not all demigod, not all human. With beauty and powers that make mountains fall, men and women flock to see him, only to get rejected repeatedly. And Luke, hit by Eros and a strong will of determination, sets out to seek this "heartless" man and woo him till there's not tomorrow.
1. Chapter 1

Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon and Hecate, not all demigod, not all human. With beauty and powers that make mountains fall, men and women flock to see him, only to get rejected over and over again. And Luke, hit by Eros and a strong will of determination, sets out to seek this "heartless" man and woo him till there's not tomorrow. One-Shot...maybe! Lukercy! I DO NOT OWN The PJO or HOO series all credit goes to Rick Riordan! Plot adopted from Tyler Salvatore! WARNING THERE WILL BE SLASH!

It seemed as if everyone had heard of the _new_ recruit. Nobody seemed to mind, and the spawns of Hermes were glaring at nothing in particular. They have grown quite fond of their cabin, a cabin that needed more space than kids. It was little fundamental matters that told them not to create more havoc than usual; they needed to cut the new kid some slack.

It was just another normal day at camp, whereas everything is anything _but_ normal. Minor concussions, a few temporary mind traumas, nothing more than the average day at a camp full of hyperactive, dyslexic brats, as Mr. D would put in.

But today seemed far off, like a distant storm was rubbing off on the coastal shores, not far from where Camp Half-Blood stood. The sky was an eerie gray, Apollo seemed to be taking a break from his daily excursions, and lightning was rolling off the sky like camera bulbs.

All the kids knew was that today was _not_ a normal day. News being spread like wildfire in a camp, many believed it was all due to the arrival of this mysterious, new camper.

"Cancelling sword practice are you, Luke?" the voice of one Annabeth Chase drifted out, a heavily protected book sitting innocently beneath the folds of her arms as she stared at the day-dreaming face of Luke Castellan.

Luke just smiled at her, and shook his head in amusement as the Hermes' cabin gave off mock heart attacks and kissing noises. The gray-eyed girl just rolled her eyes, trying to hide the cherry red blush creeping on her neck. Too bad Luke was naturally observant, and just _had_ to see it coming. More kissing noises adjoined the quartet of moans and ' _faster, faster!'_ conducted by the ever faithful Stoll brothers.

"Okay all you perverted big-headed excuses for demigods, give me thirty, on the floor, _now_!"

Laughing was a natural reaction as he swung his arm over Annabeth and gave her a one-sided hug. And Annabeth, with her blond hair in disarray and her shirt sleeves rolled off at the sides, she was taking all of her free will and determination not to swoon, which was being done in a very futile manner. Luke stared at the tired campers and smirked, "I won't end this practice until _all_ of you have done _fifty_."

More protests and ramblings, curses and bad luck directed to Luke stormed through the thin air, cutting it like a blade, another natural reaction of the training heroes and heroines.

Chiron was galloping towards them, an expression of indifference painted over his bearded features. A signalling horn was in his hands, only to be brought up and blown fiercely. The clouds seemed to be heavy with water as they dropped all over the camp in slow, heaving movements.

"Everybody, get into your cabins, now!" there was fiery determination in his voice, but cracks of refutation followed, ending his announcement with doubled fear and anxiety.

Nevertheless, the Hermes' cabin stuck out their tongues at Luke and ran askew in the woods, surely to return in a couple of minutes with twigs and forgotten armour.

The rain had started to pour, and the lightning intensified, doubling the thunder in rebuttal. Today was _just not_ a good day.

A figure, wrapped in seas of comforters and blankets, sat close to the hearth inside the farmhouse of Mr. D. The warmth of the flames crackled and shot out in tendrils of red and yellow whips, hitting the most unfortunate of corners. The outline of the figure was rogue, yet it had a certain slenderness that attributed to a female. Surely, the figure was a male, if the short black hair meant anything, but the body was just too lithe and fragile for a male, a little feminine, too.

The hair was messy, confused tresses that resembled black snakes in the wind. Ironic that it was soft to the touch, like a cock's feather and could have been one of the softest things to stroke.

The skin that peaked out of the marring clothes was unrealistically white, like ceramic vases. Blemishes and pimples that were common to those of his age were unfounded and unbelievably not there. Every now and then, a slender hand with long, spider-like fingers with perfectly manicured nails would peer out to caress the hidden face of the figure.

It was not unthinkable for the gods to stare at him with gaping mouths and huge, circular eyes. A very ungodly stature for them and it did not go well with their physique, even if they were perfectly perfect.

The figure took no notice of them, eyes solely focused on the torching fire, his face unmoving and possibly stoic.

An old door with putrefying wood and rusty nails opened, the sound creating a vast thunderclap in their midst. Chiron had just entered; hair and beard soaked in seawater from the skies. His hooves made a tapping rhythm with an enjoyable beat that echoed through silent walls.

Clearing his throat, the gods were taken from their concentration into delving into the poor boy's mind and into Chiron's steely, gray eyes.

"I see you have met our _newest_ camper."

Slowly, they nodded and went back into focusing. It was such a comical painting, the one they made, with entirely powerful ethereal beings staring in awe at the figure who was closing into the fire for comfort with weak, little nudges.

Abruptly, the boy turned and stared at them, his face was blank and his eyes almost unseeing. But that wasn't what relayed the gods to gasp; it was but the invisible pools of emotion swirling in those evergreen eyes.

And those eyes, they were, simply put, beautiful, and no other word had jurisdiction over those eyes except for _that_ word. The strength of the sea green tone broke all connection between everything real and surreal. They were enticing, delicious loaves out in the open that beckoned for a closer look, a simple touch, a deal of life.

Like sirens, they would call, and call they did in their haunting voices of emerald petals. The long lashes that shaded the sides curved into an uproar of intricate movements when fluttered. The outline of the eyes slanted into a perfect, almond shape. The contrast of the eyes and the paleness of the boy only begged to differ and fought in attention.

He was a pure epitome of everything god-like, yet the simplicity of his cherubic face only revealed the innocence in depth.

And it was plain hubris to say he was not a god, his features alone had Eros on his knees, buckled and begging.

Aphrodite smiled, wicked and all-knowing as she looked at the boy, her dense mind secretly _claiming_ him as her own. Where else would he get his looks from? His father? Impossible. No mortal could have been the source of this beauty.

And the boy turned sharply to her, as if he had read through her thick skull, anger evident in his eyes as they spoke for him, sea green telling her he would never be a spawn of a whore. And oddly, she nodded meekly, _accepting_ the fact that a mere boy had turned her down.

Chiron sighed and trotted to them, the uneven beats now sporadic and down.

"My Lords, my Ladies, as you can see, this boy is not...entirely human, nor is he entirely god. The scans of his body show no sign of a living heartbeat or a pulse, yet there is a kind of liquid that flows through his veins, comparably like blood, but not entirely so."

They stared at him, unable to comprehend the information given. Dionysus smirked smugly, as he was one of the first to learn of the news. Just one of the perks of being Camp director.

The gods for one, though wise with centuries of age, can be a little obtuse and narrow-minded at times, and often, though not spoken of, quite dumb of the trivial facts set in front of them.

The boy just stared at them, harder than ever and they inwardly cringed, little shivers running up and down their spine, spiking them with electric jolts.

"He is also mute."

Little crickets in the dark afternoon chorused in happiness, unaware of the situation behind the walls.

"Then, what exactly is he?"

The unnamed boy looked at the queen of all gods, sensing and tasting the fear that emulated from her pores. He smirked openly, a glint in his soulful eyes that sent little trails of seduction bouncing off the closed doors and windows. The rain was gushing out harder as the gods stood in confusion, little question marks branded in their eyes. The boy smirked harder, as if knowing a secret no one else knew, and stood up, full height.

The sources of warmth from the blankets fell off of him and exposed his bare torso that was free from body fat or well-toned muscles. Just a clear stomach that invited and appealed. Jeans that hugged his hips and thighs only added to the erotica, uncovering all the hidden nooks and crannies.

The male gods swallowed openly, before he smirked yet again, a trademark emotion on his features. A smirk that ran straight to their groins, blood rushing and getting stronger, _harder._

And he just disappeared, clever boy.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, I'm back with another chapter of BTP!This is a filler that I wrote in an hour so I hope you enjoy! Thank you for all your wonderful support! I will try to post at least one long chapter a month, only because I have to balance my time between family and school! Just a quick reminder, this story will contain slash and it is rated M! If you have questions about the story or any ideas please PM me or leave a comment!

After the mysterious and beautiful boy took his leave, the gods all sneaked looks at each other from the corner of their eyes. _Most_ of them all had the same thoughts in their mind. _"Who was that beautiful creature?" and "How can I have him by my side for millennia?"_

Poseidon, with his face pale and sickly, had other nerve-wracking thoughts in mind.

He was so caught up in his own thought's that he didn't hear his own brother, Zeus call an "Emergency Meeting" In the Throne Room until his older sister Hestia, the hearth goddess, tapped him to get his attention.

While in the Meeting, they discussed the mystery, whose name was still not known. The mystery that had the power to put all of the gods under his powerful spell of seduction with just one, simple look. The mysterious and beautiful boy that was mute and unnatural to anything they have ever encountered before.

"Everyone let's be reasonable about this please!" "One comment at a time please!" Athena called, trying unsuccessfully to bring the noise and chaos to a more tolerable level.

"Before we talk about the boy any further, we need to at least find out his name, for he must have one." She always was the most refined and cultured of the Olympians.

While the other gods and goddesses of Olympus talked about the mute, Hestia noticed something wrong with Poseidon. He looked as if someone told him he had three days to live and he was thinking about all the stuff he wasn't going to be able to do after he died. She knew that wasn't the reason for his demeanor and deep down she had a feeling that Poseidon knew a lot more about the mystery than he led the others to believe. She also knew that he wanted to keep it a secret, so who was she to tell. It was his decision, and she respected that.

Hera was also sitting on her throne, contemplating the unnamed mute. She sensed something off about the boy, she just didn't know what it was yet. All she knew was that he was a dark,dangerous, mystery that could be a future threat to her family. Eventually she shook off her paranoia and thought to herself maybe it's nothing and she's just paranoid.

What if she was right?

What if he is so unpredictable and powerful that he changes fate itself?

What if that mysterious boy ends up being Olympus's undoing?

Only time will tell...


	3. Chapter 3

I'm back with another chapter! Everyone said they wanted a long story so I have to write shorter chapters than originally planned which is good for me! Thank you to all who reviewed, followed, and favorited, I appreciate your support!: SHOUT OUTS TO:

 **917brat**

 **Kaneko352**

 **PercabethNot**

 **PixelUp**

 **RangerHorseTug**

 **TheRiddlezz**

 **kennaangel**

 **themagicplok**

 **Person105**

And to everyone who reviewed on my chapters.

Back at Camp-Halfblood a similar meeting was taking place in, what the half-blood's call, "The Big House". Luke, Chiron, and the other senior counselors were seated around

the blue, marred, ping-pong table, discussing the unearthly weather that hung over the camp like a demonic and ungodly premonition of the dark times ahead.

"Doesn't anyone find it weird that the moment "pretty boy" showed up, the weather turned to shit?" Clarisse, daughter of Ares, roared, standing up, agitated by the noise level in the rec. room.

"That is suspicious, but come on guys let's cut him some slack, I mean he just got here. He can't destroy camp in a day...right? Lee Fletcher asked nervously.

It was still a very arduous task to try to hear what everyone had to say.

Chiron pounded his hoof on the floor, trying to silence the deafening noise of the room.

"The boy is not to be discussed due to the orders of Zeus! Now, please everyone talk in an orderly fashion, and that means no yelling." Ordered Chiron.

Everyone turned simultaneously to look at the still standing Clarisse.

"What are you wimps looking at!" She shouted, annoyed at everyone looking at her pointedly.

Everyone then whipped their heads to look everywhere else but in her direction.

Luke stood from where he was seated around the table.

"You all know that it's not his fault," He paused and looked around, into the eyes of everyone in the room. They could tell he was being very serious by the look in his eye.

"It's the gods, Zeus is probably sitting on his throne, causing us misery and paranoia for his own selfish and petty reasons." Luke said rolling his eyes. After Luke said this, the room went silent.

Everyone looked up timidly, as the storm outside grew louder, brighter, and more restless due to the rapidly increasing thunder and lightning strikes.

"You shouldn't talk about the gods like that Luke" Silena said apprehensively.

"Who cares about the gods, because they sure don't care about us!" Luke shouted as he walked out the door and off into the storm.

Everyone looked around at each other tensely and silently. They all had a feeling that sinister times were ahead.

"Meeting dismissed! Go straight to your cabins and do not discuss anything that has just happened with the other campers!" Chiron demanded sounding a little agitated.

When the room was cleared of campers and only Chiron was left, he shook his head and thought to himself "What happened to you Luke, you used to be so innocent"

Little did he know, the innocence was all an act.

Little did he know, something more sinister has been whispering devilish thoughts into Luke's mind for a while now, slowly corrupting him further than ever before.


	4. Chapter 4 part 1

Hey! I'm back with another chapter of BPT! I'm sorry it took so long to update this week has been REALLY hectic! I had like three packets too do,plus online work, and I had three tests/quizzes to study for! Sorry about that short rant. Anyway I decided that Percy should be at the age of 14 instead of 12! Now onto the story!

Percy knew, as soon as he got to camp, that he was going to enjoy his time there. When he first came into the camp all attention was on him. He didn't like a lot of attention per- se, but it was amusing to see the various facial expressions in the gathering crowd of people. He watched as their expressions filled with different levels of confusion, envy, and most of all, lust.

Oh yes, he knew the effect he had on people from experience in his early childhood. He was the kid that everyone either shunned or admired. He was the kid that turned heads as he was walking by, due to his natural elegance and beauty. He was the kid who was considered "different" just because of the fact he couldn't talk. He still remembers when his wonderful mother Sally Jackson had to go to a Student/Parent meeting due to his dropping grades and poor participation in class. They called him lazy, told her he wasn't putting any effort into his work and that they thought he was faking the fact that he was mute. Sally, being the kind and humble woman she was, told them that he was in fact not lazy. That he was dealing with medical conditions and that it was none of their business what was going on with her son.

Coming out of his memory, his sadness and distress returned with a vengeance. Sally, his mother, the person who loved him and took care of him was gone. No,not gone,murdered by that stupid, repulsive, Minotaur. It seems as if the Fates hated him or they were out to get him, either way his so called luck, expired years ago.

Anyway, here he was sitting in the Big House waiting for the centaur Chiron to get back.

After about fifteen minutes or so he could hear the sound of galloping coming towards the office, slowly getting louder with every passing second.

On the way towards his office, Chiron called for Annabeth to come see him. As she was walking towards him, he called out "Annabeth, I need a favor from you please, I would have called Luke but...he is doing something else for me at the moment."

He hesitated after he said Luke's name Annabeth subconsciously noted.

"Sure,what did you need?" Annabeth questioned.

"I need you to come meet the child who came into camp and show him around."

I will leave it here but you will get another chapter later this week I promise!


	5. Chapter 4 part 2

**Hey! I'm back with another chapter of BPT! I do have a very important question though...What powers do you want Percy to have? Remember that his parents powers deal with magic and the sea. I have some (MANY) ideas but I want to hear from my awesome viewers and followers! Okay, now onto the chapter ((This chapter will have POV's!))**

 **Annabeth POV**

"Oh,okay, yea I can show him around for you sir." Annabeth stuttered. She had seen the new kid before but she never got to talk to him for herself. She didn't know anything about him other than the rumors being spread about who he is and was. They were crazy rumors too, they ranged from him angering or disgracing the gods, to him being sold for prostitution due to his unnaturally natural beauty. Like she said before they were all just stupid and irrelevant rumors that some of the campers came up with to momentarily satisfy their curious minds. She didn't believe in any of them and she wasn't going to until she had the facts.

"Thank you my dear, he is currently in my office, why don't you introduce yourself. I will be back soon." Chiron said gratefully.

 **Percy POV**

Percy looked up as he heard footsteps entering the office. He was greeted with a young woman with tan skin and silky blond hair that was pulled up into a neat, high ponytail. She was wearing an orange t-shirt with the words "Camp Half-blood" written on the front in bold black letters and a pair of light blue jean shorts. She would have looked like an average California girl if it wasn't for her eyes. They were a familiar bright, metallic, gray that symbolized she was a daughter of the wisdom goddess Athena.

He could sense that she was a little nervous when she first entered the room. After years of not being able to communicate verbally, he eventually learned to read and do sign language. He also learned how to read body language and emotions. Even though other people would think she was detached and bored, he saw the emotions hidden in the sparkling gray eyes. He watched as she moved towards him with some hesitation.

"Hi my name is Annabeth, and I'm supposed to be showing you around the campgrounds." She said while fidgeting with a loose string at the end of her shirt.

He stared at her for what felt like eternity before he stood up and grabbed a nearby notebook and pen.

 **Annabeth POV**

She watched as he started writing on the blank sheet of paper. After the new kid finished writing, he turned the notebook towards her so she could see what he wrote.

" **Hello Annabeth. You're a daughter of Athena aren't you?"**

She couldn't help but admire his near perfect handwriting.

"Yes, actually I am a daughter of Athena." She said with confidence and pride."Do you know who your godly parent is or are you Undetermined?" She really didn't mean for the statement to be offensive but the glare she got after she finished her statement sent her instincts in a panicked frenzy. Every nerve in her body told her that he was not someone to mess with.

" **What is that supposed to mean?"**

"Calm down, It just means that you don't have a designated cabin yet, or in better words, you don't know who your godly parent is because you haven't been claimed."

She watched him roll his eyes in an agitated way, but he didn't start writing again so she assumed he dropped the subject for now. He took a couple of steps towards her. She couldn't help but notice the seemingly natural sway of his hips as he walked. If there was anything that was true from all those rumors, it would be that he was breathtakingly beautiful.

"Are you ready to go? We don't have all day." Annabeth grumbled feeling a little bit jealous.

"New kid" did his signature smirk and started writing again.

" **I'm ready when you are Annabeth."**

She was starting to get tired of calling him the "New Kid". She wanted a name.

"Hey, new kid what's your name...if you don't mind me asking?" She asked.

He smirked again and quickly wrote down five simple but important words.

" **My Name is Percy Jackson."**

 **Percy POV**

He didn't know for sure if he liked Annabeth or not, but when she brought up the gods and his parents, he couldn't help the boiling anger that surged through him. He wanted to scream at her, throw punches, and break down, but then he remembered, he was mute, weak, and he was already broken. And so, he did what he did best. He put on his best facade and kept on going.

 **I promised a longer chapter and I delivered a longer chapter (kind of)! Remember to comment what powers you want Percy to have! They will come into play very soon! Until next time!** **  
**


	6. Chapter 5

**HEY! I'm back with another chapter all in Percy's POV! Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of comments for what powers you wanted Percy to have so I had to go with the ones I got….and more!Warning: This chapter will contain some the of actual lines from the first book!So with that being said... Let's do this!**

"Okay Percy, are you ready to go because we're wasting a lot of daylight just sitting here." Annabeth drew out the syllables of my name as if she was testing it on her tongue.

I nodded my head to show that I was ready to explore the camp grounds.

"Great!" She exclaimed with a cheerful smile on her face.

"Come on, follow me."

She stepped out of the office and looked behind her to see if I was following.

When she saw that I was, she started for the exit as I walked behind her. When she opened the door to the outside my vision was assaulted by bright lights and a beautiful sight.

The overall landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture.

From what he could see from the porch, there was an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena that looked brand new. Their white marble columns were sparkling in the sun.

In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball.

Canoes glided across a small lake in the distance. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods.

Some kids and teens were shooting targets at an archery range. Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.

I turned back towards Annabeth to see that she was looking at someone.

At the other end of the porch, two familiar men sat down across from each other, each with a deck of cards in their hands. The first one I recognized from the other day was pudgy. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He wore a tiger pattern Hawaiian shirt as well. I glanced at Annabeth and walked closer to the table.

As I got closer to him, my instincts told me that this was a god, and not just any god. No, this particular god was one of the Olympians. He was Dionysus, the god of fertility and wine which would explain his bloodshot eyes. The god was looking at his deck of cards intensely and didn't seem to notice him so he looked over to observe the other man that was sitting in a wheelchair on the other side of the table. He had his back on me but he looked very familiar too. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.

I got out the notebook I found on the office desk and wrote my shocking conclusion down.

I tapped his shoulder and he turned around as I lifted the notebook to his face so he could read what I had just wrote seconds ago.

" **Mr. Brunner!"**

He looked at my notebook and then turned his attention on me. His eyes looked older than I've ever seen before. It seemed as though he had been through a millennia of experiences and had tons of knowledge. With that his eyes also held a mischievous glint, like he knew way more than I would ever know.

"Hello my boy and yes I am, as you know, Mr. Brunner but here you can call me Chiron"

My ADHD mind and instincts automatically told me that this was the real Chiron from the old Greek myths. This was Chiron the trainer of heroes, and apparently my history teacher.

I probably had an amusing expression on my face because a chuckle from him snapped me out of my thought process.

"I had a feeling you were going to react like that." He said with a small smile on his face.

I didn't really know how to react to this shocking discovery so I just asked him the most important question on my mind. I quickly wrote down-

" **Why were you a teacher at my school?"**

I turned the notebook towards him so he could see what I had written there.

"I came as soon as I heard there was a powerful aura surrounding that area." He was looking straight into my eyes as he said this, almost as if he knew something about me that I didn't know about myself. It was kind of unnerving too if he was being honest to himself.

As I was talking to Chiron, I didn't notice that Annabeth was standing right next to me until she said something.

"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt your conversation but don't you want to go see camp." I could tell by her tone of voice that she was getting a little restless.

"Go on ahead Percy. I will meet with you later." Chiron told me with a smile on his face.

I nodded my head to show that I understood and turned to walk off with Annabeth.

 **That's all for now! Thank you to everyone that Followed and Favorited this story. Make sure to comment on this chapter and tell me what powers you want Percy to have. A new chapter will be up later next week!**


	7. Chapter 6

**IMPORTANT MESSAGE!**

 **Hey! I'm back with another chapter and some explanations because I feel like I owe you guys! So In the last chapter I was going to have the scene where Chiron explains everything to Percy but I decided that I wanted Annabeth to explain everything and give him the tour. I can't tell you the importance of this because it would be spoiling, but I didn't want to confuse anybody with this chapter. Warning: I do not own the characters or some of the lines that I will be using throughout the story! Also this chapter has POV's! Okay now that, that is done...Let's do this!**

 **Percy POV**

As we started walking away from the Big House I wrote down the question that had been on my mind and turned to show it to Annabeth.

" **Where are we going first?"**

It took her a while to read it but that was expected due to the dyslexia all demigods possessed.

"Well Mr.D told me to take you to cabin eleven but Chiron wanted me to give you a tour so you can just look at the places we pass and I can answer your questions if you have any."

I couldn't help but notice how Annabeth talked to me. It was almost as if she thought I was dimwitted or slow. I stopped walking with her and she turned around to see me glaring, looking directly in her eyes. I watched as she froze suddenly and turn a little pale before she rolled her eyes and pulled herself together.

"Are you coming are what?" She snapped at me sounding frustrated.

I could tell immediately that our friendship was going to take a long while to develop.

I nodded my head once to show that I was ready to continue the tour. When she turned around completely I stuck up the middle finger in a silent "fuck you too".

As we started walking silently to our destination, I began to develop questions in my head about the whole god and goddess business.

He knew that the gods were still alive but only because he saw them when he first came into camp. What he really wanted to know is why were they were in America and not Greece and how they were still alive in the first place.

I flipped to a clear page in the notebook and started writing down my questions so I could hand them to Annabeth. I started with the more Important questions and went from there. When I was done I lightly tapped Annabeth on the shoulder to get her attention. She stopped to face me as I held up the notebook for her to take.

 **Annabeth POV**

When Percy tapped me I turned around to see he wanted. He was looking in my eyes with his sharp and disturbing gaze while holding his notebook up for me to read. I hate to admit it but it did take me a while to read the neat handwriting on the page but eventually I found out that it said:

" **How are the gods in America?" and "Do you know who my dad is?"**

Thankfully, they weren't stupid and obvious questions.

"The gods move with the heart of the west and no I don't know who your godly parent is."

He seemed a little confused after I said "heart of the west" and the confusion quickly turned a little depressed when I said that I didn't know his father. Surprisingly as fast as that expression appeared it was gone just as quickly. I could tell automatically that he had put up his mental walls and I respected that. He grabbed his notebook and started writing something down.

" **What is the heart of the West?"**

"I guess I should have explained that the first time, with you being new and all."

He looked at me and nodded his head as if to say "no duh"

"Okay, well the best person to explain this would be Chiron, but I'll explain it for him."

I started thinking about the best way to explain it without sounding too confusing.

"The heart of the West is basically what we would call 'Western Civilization'. It's a living force in a way too. Chiron said it was a collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are a big part of it too. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so that they couldn't possibly fade. Well not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated and that can't really happen. Anyway the fire started a long time age, back in Greece. Then the heart of the fire or the gods moved to it simply moved, to Germany, then France, then to Spain, for a while. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. You can easily tell that people do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them everywhere from paintings, and statues, and on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in the United States. Why do you think the country bird is an American bald eagle, which just so happens to be one of Zeus's Sacred Animals. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. Like I said the evidence is literally everywhere you go." After I was done with my rant I turned my head to face Percy again to see if he looked confused in anyway.

 **Percy POV**

After Annabeth stopped talking I took a moment to process all the new information I have been given. It seemed like a reasonable explanation so when Annabeth turned to look at me, I nodded my head to show that I understood what she told me and that I was ready to continue walking.

As we were walking we walked passed the volleyball pit where some campers and satyr's were playing, but as soon as I walked by they all stopped and stared.

I heard a lot of them whispering to each other.

One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's him."

And Others talked about my body, grace,or beauty.

Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally this shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable even if I was kind of used to it. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something more vulgar and inappropriate. With that on my mind I quickly looked away from all of them and started walking faster to catch up to Annabeth, as she started walking ahead of me.

As we got a good distance away I looked back at the Big house. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized-four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle weather vane on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. A shiver ran up my spine. Something had moved the curtain and I felt like I was being watched.

 **That's all for now! Next chapter we will meet Clarisse and her friends which will be very fun to write! Also a special thank you to the people that reviewed and followed my story!**


	8. Chapter 7 part 1

**Hey! Guess who's back from the land of Wattpad! That's right, it's me and I have another extra long chapter for you (that will be separated into two parts) because I know I've been gone for a long time and I feel really bad. If you want to go check out my other story on Wattpad my username is:**

 **Kkworld123456789**

 **Percy POV**

After seeing the curtain move, I was a little more cautious of my surroundings. It creeped me out and I don't even really know why. I looked over at Annabeth and saw that she was just looking around. I got my notebook and wrote-

" **What's up there?"**

I tapped her on the shoulder and rose up the notebook for her to see.

Her face went white as she shook her head.

"Nothing lives there, it's just the attic."

I could automatically tell that she was lying to me and I hate liars.

" **You're lying, what's up there?"**

Annabeth looked down at her shoes then looked at me again with a slight glare on her face.

"Nothing is up there, okay, so drop it!"

I rolled my eyes but decided to cooperate, which I usually never do.

After a minute of silence we came across an average looking cabin, well average compared to the other cabins I've seen. I looked around more and my mind automatically analyzed everything my eyes were seeing at that moment. I could tell that this was cabin eleven. It looked really old and worn down. The brown paint was peeling and over the doorway was a gold caduceus which was also Hermes symbol of power. It made sense seeing as this was his cabin.

Annabeth opened the door and took a step inside while I looked inside to observe.

It looked just as I suspected and a little worse. It was packed full of people, boys and girls were walking or lying down everywhere. There were more people then there were bunk beds. Spread all over the floor was a bunch of clothes and sleeping bags. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center. After I was done looking around the room, I focused my attention on the people in the room. They were all staring at me whether to size me up or check me out I didn't really care. My attention was on one person, the same person that was currently staring at me while walking forward towards where I was standing.

"Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven." Annabeth exclaimed, she wasn't looking at me she was staring at the older male, blushing a light pink.

"Is he a Regular or Undetermined?" Called a random camper from within the cabin.

I didn't know what that meant but I had an idea of what the meaning was. It didn't really matter because Annabeth answered that I was Undetermined anyway. After she said this, a lot of whining started coming from some of the cabin eleven members. A couple people just grinned cheerily, one of those people was the older male I was staring at before.

"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have my bed if you want. Or, you can have that spot on the floor over there."

He was looking me straight in the eye, with so much intensity and focus, that he might as well be staring at my soul.

This intense gaze broke when Annabeth spoke up again.

"This is Luke and he will be your counselor for now." She told me, looking at Luke with that pink blush still on her face.

I looked Luke up and down, just observing like I normally do.

The dude was about nineteen, he didn't look to bad either. He was tall and muscular, with short cropped sandy blond hair and dark sky blue eyes. He wore a friendly smile that seemed fake for reasons I don't know...yet. Apart from facial expression he wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. Looking back at his face for a moment I saw that he had a large, thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash or a monsters claw.

After doing my observations I brought out my notebook and quickly wrote down a question that had been on my mind.

" **Why did you say for now?"**

I turned my notebook towards Annabeth but Luke answered first.

"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."

I nodded my head in understanding. All of a sudden two almost identical boys appeared in front of me, both with matching trouble making grins on their faces.

"Hey I'm Connor Stoll and this is my bro-"

"Travis, nice to see you, I mean meet you!"

After this unusual introduction the whole cabin burst out laughing aside from Annabeth and Luke who had annoyed looks on their faces.

I waved at the two teens in front of me with a small smile on my face.

"Wow you look even better in person!" Connor exclaimed right at the same time Travis yelled

"If you were a girl I would totally tap that!"

I will admit that I blushed but it didn't mean that I was attracted to them!

"Hey, knock it off before I give you laps in class today." Luke said, rolling his eyes.

He turned his attention on me.

"Sorry about that it's just something you have to get used to."

I gave him a big smile and quickly wrote something down on my notebook.

" **It's okay, it was pretty amusing to be honest."**

Luke laughed a little awkwardly and shook his head.

I smiled at him again and then looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.

"Hey, Percy you want me to get you settled while you finish your tour. I could get you ready for your stay." Luke offered with a grin on his face.

I shrugged my shoulders and gave him the few items I was carrying with me.

" **Thank you"**

"No problem" He said still looking in my eyes with a bright smile on his face.

""Come on," Annabeth told me with a slight frown of irritation on her face.

"I'll show you the volleyball court."

" **I've already seen it."**

"Just come on." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside.

" **What's your problem?"**

I will admit that I was starting to get really angry now

. **"All I know is, I kill some ugly monster and everyone thinks I'm a god or something"**

"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me.

"You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"

" **What, the chance to get killed?"**

"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"

I shook my head in annoyance and irritation.

" **Look, if I fought the Minotaur, the same one in the stories then there's only one right."**

"Yes."

" **And he died, thousands of years ago, Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So how was he alive in this time period?"**

"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."

" **Oh, thanks. That clears it up."** I rolled my eyes too hoping that she would notice my sarcasm.

"They don't have souls, like you and me. You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky. But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them archetypes. Eventually, they re-form."

I thought about Mrs. Dodds.

" **You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword they could come back?"**

"The Fur … I mean, your math teacher. That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very very pissed off."

" **How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**

"I overheard a conversation between some people." She said looking anywhere but me.

" **You almost called her something. A Fury? Aren't they Hades' torturers?"**

A clash of thunder cut through the air.

Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her. "You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."

I rolled my eyes at the thunder and her nervous antics.

" **Is there anything we can say without it thundering?"**

I seemed bitchy right now, even to myself, but right then I didn't care.

" **Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**

I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale.

"You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or … your parent." She explained to me still looking a little nervous. She kept stared at me, probably waiting for me to get it even though I got it already.

I nodded my head to show that I understood perfectly.

" **My mom is Sally Jackson, she works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. Well, at least, she used to."**

Even as I was writing this sentence, a strange gut feeling told me that the woman Sally Jackson wasn't really my birth mother. That couldn't be true though, so I decided to ignore that feeling...at least for now that is.

 **Part two will be up soon...I hope! Don't forget to comment and check out my other story on Wattpad because I will be updating that story to!**

 **Bye for now!**


	9. Chapter 7 part 2- Percy POV

**Hi Guys! I'm back with another chapter of BPT! I know that I have been gone for a long time and the only excuse I have is that I started watching Anime and that I had to study for my two final state exams ((They were hard as hell by the way)). So again, sorry for the long wait. Now, let's do this!**

Annabeth and I continued to walk around talking about the camp and its secrets. It was peaceful for that moment but this was the calm before the storm. I could tell. Annabeth looked at me with a confused expression, probably seeing the worrisome expression on my face.

"What's wrong with you?" She asked me with a slight frown on her face.

I shook my head to signify that it was nothing important and looked at the building we were about to pass and took in the chipped red paint and weapons in and on the cabin. The gut feeling that I had grew stronger with every step we took towards it.

All of a sudden a thick but muscular girl stepped out of the cabin. She wasn't pretty but she wasn't ugly either. Her face looked like it was stuck in a permanent glare that was directed straight at me. I took a step back and she took two steps forwards while waving a couple of her cabin mates over to join her.

"Hey guys, look what we have here," The girl and her siblings started laughing and grinning at each other with a villainous look in their eyes. "That newbie we heard so much about!"

I looked over at Annabeth and took in her irritated look and frustrated posture.

"That is Clarisse, daughter of Ares," Annabeth sighed while rolling her eyes, "Hey, why don't you go polish you spear or something?!"

"Maybe I will Princess Blond," Clarisse sneered, "So I can drive it through you Friday night!"

Her cabin mates laughed and cheered her on like a pack of wild animals.

"Erre es korakas!" Annabeth shouted back, with her face red with rage. "You don't stand a chance."

My brain translated the Greek to 'Go to the crows' which was probably a really clever insult in Greece but I wouldn't know.

"We'll fucking Pulverize you Blondie!" Clarisse shouted with her right eye twitching. She turned towards me next.

"What's your name 'Pretty Boy'?" She said the nickname 'Pretty Boy' like they were the scum of the earth to her.

I got out my pen and notebook to write my name so I could show it to her. I could tell she was staring at me with a confused and annoyed expression.

"Are you going to say anything dumbass!?" She yelled with her right eye twitching in anger and annoyance.

"He's freaking mute!" Screamed Annabeth, as she threw her hands up in the air in irritation.

I rolled my eyes at both of them and tossed Clarisse the notebook which she caught in her left hand. She looked down to read the big bold letters I had written there.

" **MY NAME IS PERCY NOT 'PRETTY BOY' OR 'NEWBIE' BITCH"**

Her eyes, now filled with rage but amusement, shot up to look at me and Annabeth.

"You have spunk kid, but I don't appreciate being called a bitch so…let's begin with the 'Newbie initiation ceremony shall we" Clarisse grinned devilishly and snapped her fingers. All of a sudden Annabeth was out of the way and Clarisse's siblings were grabbing me by the back of my shirt. They started dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the

Bathroom. I was kicking, punching and squirming. I was doing anything that I could to get out of their grip. Clarisse and co. dragged me into the girls' bathroom, probably to make the embarrassment ten times worse. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking-as much as I could think with Clarisse and siblings ripping my hair out-that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier restrooms. Clarisse's friends were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.

"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets.

"Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so weak looking."

Her siblings snickered at the stupid joke.

Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.

Clarisse and her cabin mates bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and piss. I was straining to keep my head up now.

I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I refuse to touch that. Then I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach and a semi-familiar ache in my head. I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder, and the ground shake. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened and they all took a step back.

"What the actual fuck!" Clarisse screeched as water shot up from the showers and toilets to blast them in the face and out the door. The water never stopped but all of a sudden a thin purple mist started mixing in with the blast of water. As soon as the water and mist mixture touched the other campers the fell to the ground and passed out. I was shocked to say the least. The water immediately stopped and receded back to where it came from. The only dry spot in the room was where Annabeth and I were standing. Annabeth had a look of pure shock and something close to horror on her face as she looked up from the bodies and then at me. I was still a little shocked and disoriented from what just happened but I could have sweared that I saw a faint silver aura coming off her body. I took a step forward and the dry circle followed me. Annabeth took a step out looking ready to make a run for it. I slowly moved towards her trying not to startle her after the shocking display that just went down. I took out my notebook and wrote down the following words to show her;

" **I don't know what just happened but I think I just discovered my powers!"**

Annabeth read the words on the page and looked at me while nodding her head slowly.

"Yeah, no shit!"

We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, slowly waking back up. A bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage.

"You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."

I probably should have let it go, but I glared and wrote,

" **You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Then shut the fuck up."**

Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers

made way to avoid her flailing feet. I turned to see Annabeth staring directly at me.

" **What are you thinking about?"** I asked her.

"I'm thinking," She said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."


	10. Chapter 8-Percy POV

**Hey everybody! Sorry for leaving for so long again, I just took a break from writing. Anyway, Guess what!? I'm off for summer break, so that means more updates for you all to read and enjoy! Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you want or hope to see in future chapters. Now, let's do this!**

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and

murmured something about toilet water and magic.

Annabeth showed me a few more places like the metal shop,

the arts-and-crafts room and the climbing wall.

Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.

"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly

. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."

 **"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**

Whatever, at least it didn't touch me. Plus, Clarisse and her gang had it coming."

She looked at me skeptically again; it was as if she was trying to read my mind.

"You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said after a few seconds of staring

 **"Who?"**

"Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."

I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.

I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat

when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier,

about twenty feet below.

They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend. I didn't know what else to do so I did the normal thing waved back.

All of a sudden, I felt a sharp pain in my gut and my brain automatically told me that these girls were Naiads and that they were a part of the sea.

"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."

 **"Naiads,"**

I wrote, trying to fake the feeling of being completely overwhelmed by my facial expressions since I had no voice.

 **"That's it. I want to go home now."**

Annabeth frowned at me like what I wrote was the craziest thing she had ever seen.

"Don't you get it, Percy? You are home now. This is the only safe place on earth

for kids like us."

 **"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**

I asked her mentally rolling my eyes.

I knew what I was, from...experiments and research, but I knew from the beginning that acting like I already knew everything would be suspicious.

I choose a while ago to just play dumb and that's exactly what I'm going to do now.

"I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."

 **"Half-human and half-what?"**

"I think you know, Percy."

'It's scary how right she is sometimes', I thought to myself.

 **"God,"** I wrote.

Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."

 **"That's insane."**

"It may sound insane at first but you'll get used to it."

I looked off into the distance, thinking everything over. It seemed logical enough and now that he had his new powers he could easily tell that his father is a god that deals with water, sleep, or magic. Thinking even harder and using my knowledge of Greek gods from school, I can tell already tell you that no god deals with all three or two of them at once. Mentally shaking my head I looked towards Annabeth with a new question in mind.

 **"If you're a daughter of Athena, who is your father?"**

Her expression darkened quickly after that and her hand gripped the pier railing a little harder.

"My dad is a professor that teaches American History at West Point, but I haven't seen him in a long while."

She looked out into the lake and I did the same. The area around us grew quiet.

I started thinking about my father again, and a thought popped in my head. I wrote on my notepad and tapped Annabeth on the shoulder.

 **"Do you think you know who my father is?"**

"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows, not even me."

 **"Except my mother. She knew."**

"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."

 **"My dad would have told her. I can tell that he loved her."**

Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.

"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens.

 **"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**

Annabeth ran her palm along the rail while looking down into the water.

"The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."

I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd seen other kids like that while attending Yancy Academy. They would be shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But I still think that gods should behave better.

 **"So I'm stuck here for the rest of my life then?"**

"It depends," Annabeth said

. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounder's. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble-about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."

"So monsters can't get in here?" Annabeth shook her head.

"Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."

 **"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**

"Practice fights. Practical jokes."

 **"Practical jokes?"**

"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."

 **"So you're a year-rounder then?"**

Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.

"I've been here since I was seven," she said.

"Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."

 **"Why did you come so young?"**

She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."

 **"Oh, okay, sorry."**

I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence.

 **"So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**

"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..." She trailed off.

 **"Unless?"**

"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time ..."

Her voice trailed off again. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.

 **"Back in the Infirmary when you were feeding me Ambrosia you asked me something about the summer solstice..."**

I stopped writing and showed her the page hopping she would fill in the missing information for me.

When she read what I had wrote down her shoulders tensed and she looked at me with a hopeful expression on her face.

"So you do know something?"

 **"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**

She clenched her fists.

"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal."

 **"You've been to Olympus?"**

"Some of us year-rounder's-Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others-we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."

 **"But, how do you get there? Would a god have to assist you?"**

"No, you don't need a god. You just use The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station and in the Empire State Building there is special elevator that takes you to the six hundredth floor."

She looked at me like I should have known this already.

"You are a New Yorker, right?"

 **"Oh, sure."**

As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.

"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean- Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something."

I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.


	11. Chapter 9-Percy POV

**Warning: Luke and Percy will interact a lot in this chapter so... There will be Slash!**

 **Hey guys, I'm back with another extra long chapter and 'author's note' that will be at the end of the chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it because it took hours to complete!**

 **This chapter is dedicated to:** **PercabethNot and Jenyla**

I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan. Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers and rebels. As soon as I walked in everyone turned their attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my Minotaur horn. The counselor of the cabin, Luke, came over to me as soon as I sat down. When I observed him a little more I could see that he had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was slightly marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his handsome smile was intact.

"I found a sleeping bag for you to use if you want," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."

I could tell that he wasn't kidding about the stealing part due to that mischievous gleam in his eyes.

I gave him a cheerful smile and took the items out of his hands to put with my other things that he had set up for me when I was gone.

" **Thanks Luke!"** I wrote in big letters on my notebook.

"No problem," Luke said with a small smirk on his face. He walked over and sat down next to me with his back against the wall and his hands in his lap. "How was your first day?"

" **Very Interesting and Mind-Opening... I didn't even know that gods existed until recently."**

"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. And once you start believing in them it doesn't get any easier."

He had a very bitter and angry tone in his voice that made me want to know his story a lot more than before. I decided to go the oblivious and safe root and question his dad Hermes first.

 **"So your dad is Hermes?"** I asked.

His eyes darken as he glares at the floor and pulls a switchblade out of his back pocket. For a second I thought he was going to gut me, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal.

"Yeah. Hermes. The god of Messengers, Medicine, Travelers, Merchants, Thieves and anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."

I figured Luke didn't mean to basically call me a nobody. I could tell he had a lot on his mind but I still had a couple more questions to ask him before I was done playing detective again.

 **"You ever meet your dad?"** I asked hoping for the full story.

"Once." He frowned even more.

I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar. Luke looked up and managed a smile that I won't admit made my heart speed up a little bit.

"Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're like family, right? We take care of each other."

He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an hot older guy like him, even if he was a counselor, should've steered clear of a teenager like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen some toiletries for me, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day. I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon.

 **"Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**

Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."

 **"What do you mean?"** I asked, trying to pull the story I wanted out of him.

His face twitched around the scar as his frown deepened.

"Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until... somebody special came to the camp. Also yes, during that quest I got this damned scar."

I blinked once then twice after he finished his rant/explanation.

 **"Somebody special?"**

"Don't worry about it," Luke said obviously not willing to talk about it anymore.

"Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for. Now, come on, it's dinnertime. You can walk with me."

The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.

Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"

The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. The others lined up in order of seniority, so of course I would have been dead last. I looked around the camp as I walked with Luke. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.

Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods- and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill. In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads. At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I was going to squeeze on to the bench until Luke said that I could take his place. Unfortunately, I managed to trip and fall slightly into his lap, my hand landing on his upper thigh. I quickly fixed my position and told him sorry all while maintaining a red blush on my face. Fortunately, no one noticed the major screw up other than the both of us. I turned away from him to try to lessen the awkward atmosphere.

I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey blonde hair. Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.

Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"

Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"

Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Usually you're supposed to speak to it. You say whatever drink you want and you get it...nonalcoholic, of course. Since you're special just write down what you want and I'll do it for you."

I smiled at him and took out my notebook to write.

 **"Cherry Coke."**

He spoke my request and the glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid. Then I had an idea.

 **"Blue Cherry Coke."**

He gave me a confused look but laughed and said it anyway.

The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt. I took a cautious sip. Perfect. I drank a toast to my mother. She's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...

"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.

I loaded my plate and was about to take a bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.

"Come on," Luke told me. He held his hand out for me to grab and I tried not to blush like a schoolgirl talking to her crush.

As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.

Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."

I didn't even want to entertain the idea of how close his lips were to my cheek at the moment so I ignored it the best I could.

 **"You're kidding."**

His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food. Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes.

"Hermes."

I was next. I wished I knew what god's name to say. Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you are, tell me. Please. I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag. It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke. When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention. Mr. D got up with a huge sigh.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."

A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table.

"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson." Chiron murmured something. "Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."

Everybody cheered. I walked with Luke as we all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. Luke sat near me when we entered and we slowly grew closer as the night progressed. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home. Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag. My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite. When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly. That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.

 _I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home._

 **That's** **all for now! If you have any questions or complaints leave a review** **!**


	12. Chapter 10- Luke POV

**Hey Guys! I'm back with another chapter of BPT! This chapter is a little special because it's all in Luke's POV. I just thought you guys would want to know what's going through Luke's mind now that Percy is at camp being all 'cute' and 'almost perfect'.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Percy Jackson and the Olympian series!**

I sat down on my bunk and thought about my life over the past few years. It wasn't a great life I will admit. It was pretty miserable and depressing.

Kronos has been in my head for a while now. Whispering parts of his plan as I followed his instructions like I was was his bitch. If I was honest to myself I would say that I was.

I do feel a little guilty about joining Kronos in his plan to rule the world sometimes, when I'm actually having a good time with the campers. Then I think about how disrespectful the gods are too mortal lives. I think about how the gods abandon their kids and never speak to them more than once or twice in their whole lives. I think about how the gods would come down from their thrones on Olympus just to fuck random woman, get them pregnant, and then leave them to take care of themselves. I think about my poor mother and her condition.

It pains me to think about these things but It's what keeps me going. I was never the kind of guy that would sit down and cry instead of solve the problem. I don't cry, but I get angry. I get scared. I get worried. I get obsessed with trying to solve problems, and I get obsessed when I want something I can't have.

When the mysterious Percy Jackson came to camp for the first time, a lot of news spread around camp but he wasn't anything like I expected.

' _ **Flashback Time'**_

He was like a really beautiful, powerful, and sometimes creepy doll. I still remember how his skin would always turn pale and glow in the campfire light. I could still see his dark and hollow eyes from when he first came into camp. I knew the look in his eyes, I remember when I had the same look when my mother would have one of her fits. He looked terrified and he most definitely was. He looked terrified but his eyes, skin, and posture made him seem terrifyingly beautiful. Unfortunately, when I tried to approach him Chiron and the gods appeared. I had to watch in the shadows with rage in my mind as the gods eyed the boy like he was a piece of meat. I even smirked a little as Percy caused the goddess of love to back down with just a look. When Percy stood up and showed everyone his body I froze in my place. He looked supernaturally beautiful and I wanted to get to know him better.

I shook that idea out of my head fast thinking about Kronos and his plan for the younger but the idea was still at the back of my head.

The next day when I saw him in the sunlight my heart felt like it skipped a beat. Instead of pale skin and hollow eyes, I saw beautiful naturally tanned skin and softly glowing green eyes. I saw raven black hair that looked really messy but in a cute way. I stopped thinking that I sounded way too stalkerish but, again, I couldn't help but admire him. Obviously I wasn't the only one that was admiring him due to all the staring that was directed in his direction. He noticed them but didn't react as he was probably used to the treatment. He merely observed everyone and everything. His eyes looked all over my face as I walked up to him and took his stuff when he agreed to let me make a spot for him to rest. As he looked over me, probably making assumptions in his head, I looked over him as well. I was surprised and pleased to know that he had barely visible freckles on his nose and cheeks but you could probably only seem them in bright sunlight. His eyes were a swirling mix of poison green, ocean green, and different shades of sea blue. When I snapped back to reality I could see that he was looking at Annabeth and the rest of my cabin mates, listening to their antics. I did the same.

After a few minutes of talking Annabeth pulled Percy out of the door to continue the tour.

' _ **Flashback Time Over'**_

Thinking back to Kronos and his plan I started to wonder if he was the child from the prophecy. I hoped it wasn't him if he was I would have to kill him. I knew I couldn't do that. Thinking back on today and how much I enjoyed his presence I couldn't help but get upset at the thought of harming him. It's not his fault he was born into this world after all.

Just like that he had a great idea. If he can't harm Percy, he would turn him over to Kronos's side. He knew it was a crazy idea but he had to do it for his own sanity. He wanted Percy for himself.

 **That's all for now! I want to say thank you for all your support! Make sure you leave a comment and I would love to answer any questions if you have any! I also have a Poll up for this story if you want to check it out. I hope you guys have an awesome day!**


	13. Chapter 11- Percy POV

**Hello, my wonderful, amazing, Readers! I just want to start off this chapter with a sincere apology for leaving you guys on a cliffhanger for so long. I'm really lazy and I have a lot of stuff to do at school not that I have nine classes instead of eight. Two of those classes are AP college credit classes. Anyway, I want to dedicate this chapter to my friend Antigone and the rest of you for being so patient with me.**

 **This chapter begins after the day of the campfire.**

The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur. Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't hard for me to read. The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at.

Chiron tried to teach me archery, but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow. Throughout days of training I only managed to get two arrows in the center. I wasn't that good at Foot racing either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust. They told me not to worry about it, but still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.

I wasn't really good at wrestling. My body just didn't seem to be built for it anyway. There's that and Clarisse and the rest of the Ares cabin hate my guts because of that fall out we had a couple days ago. I'm good at any activity that involves water or fine arts. The second one was surprising to me too.

I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my godly parent was, but they weren't having an easy time of it. I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids, or as good at archery as the Apollo kids. I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork or-gods forbid- Dionysus's way with vine plants.

Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none. But, I know he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either but he still stuck around despite anything.

Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the creepy noises of monsters in the woods at night. I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came. Just that warm feeling I'd always had, like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back. Luke and I talk a lot about the gods and his experience with them. He always seems so bitter when he talks about them and how they have so many kids they don't take responsibility for. I started to understand Luke's bitterness. I agree that even gods have to take time off and take care of the kids and family they sired. It's only fair,...no, not fair..it's just right. I mean, even I'm starting to feel abandoned and unwanted seeing as I haven't been claimed yet anyway.

Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Every-body from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor. We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good. The problem was, I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me. We moved on to dueling in pairs.

Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time. "Good luck," one of the campers told me.

"Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."

I shrugged my shoulders at him in a nonchalant type of way before going to stand near Luke.

Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised.

"Keep your guard up, Percy," he'd say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade.

"No, not that far up!" Whap! "Lunge!" Whap! "Now, back!" Whap!

By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea, I did the same. Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.

"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered.

"If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."

Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.

The other Hermes kids gathered around us, all of them suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.

"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, now. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique." He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, I lost my hold on the sword and it clattered to the ground.

"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?" I nodded, and Luke came after me.

Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force. The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I tried the disarming maneuver. My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust. Clang. Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.

The other campers were silent.

I lowered my sword with a shy smile on my face, even though inside I jumping in excitement from actually being able to pull of that move on the first try. For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak. Actually, everyone was too shocked to do anything.

Luke was the first to snap out of it. His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, that was amazing! Show me that again!"

I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted. This time, I knew I wasn't going to win, but I still tried my best. We began our duel analyzing each others moves. He was the first to slash his sword at me and since I knew trying the move right now was a bad idea, I dodged out of the way and took a step back. I tried a low blow by swinging my sword from below Luke's arms, aiming up towards his chest and arm pit. He voided my attack and tried to thrust his sword at me but I blocked him by hitting his sword with mine. That proved to be a very dumb move because right after I did that he disarmed me using the new move.

After a long pause, somebody in the audience said,

"Beginner's luck?" Luke wiped the sweat off his brow with a small smile.

He appraised at me with an entirely new interest.

"Maybe," he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword... ."

Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat, but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had been singed off my forearms.

We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D. His face turned a sickly shade of yellow. "Fine," he said. "Just great."

 **"So your career's still on track?"**

He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"

 **"Not really."** I had no idea what a searcher's license was, but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.

 **"He just said you had big plans, and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**

Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet, so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."

My spirits lifted. **"Well, that's not so bad, right?"**

"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest... and even if you did, why would you want me along?"

 **"Of course I'd want you along!"**

Grover stared glumly into the water.

We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.

"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She vowed to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."

 **"Okay, but what about the other three at the end. Are those the Big Three?"**

Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject.

"No. One of them, number two, is Hera's," he said. "That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals. That's her husband's job. When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful brothers, the sons of Kronos."

 **"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**

"Right. You know. After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."

 **"Zeus got the sky, Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."** I remembered.

"Uh-huh."

 **"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."**

"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus, either. He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld. If he did have a cabin here ..."

Grover shuddered. "Well, it wouldn't be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."

 **"But Zeus and Poseidon-they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"**

Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage. World War II, you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other. The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx." Thunder boomed.

I said, **"And that's the most serious oath you can make."**

Grover nodded.

Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon. There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo-he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia .. . well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."

 **"But that isn't fair.' It wasn't the girl's fault that she was born. It was Zeus that couldn't keep it in his pants. Or use protection."**

Grover hesitated and looked up nervously. "Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods. They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia. A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill." He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur. "All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a horde of hellhounds. They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal. The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill. As she died, Zeus took pity on her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."

I stared at the pine in the distance.

The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much. I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?

 **"Grover, have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**

"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."

 **"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**

"No. Never. Orpheus came close... . Percy, you're not seriously thinking-"

 **"No, I was just wondering."** I lied.


	14. Chapter 12- Percy POV

**Please...Don't kill me!**

Grover studied me warily. I knew that I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea.

"Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them since they could cause really huge problems."

"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special." Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap.

"I didn't... Okay, listen, don't think like that. If you were, you know, you'll never be allowed to take part in a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis. Just don't worry about it, okay?"

I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me. That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.

At last, it was time for capturing the flag. When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.

Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree. From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head. I turned to Luke and tapped his shoulder to get his attention. I didn't have my notebook with me so I tried sign language, praying to the gods that he would understand.

 **"Those are the flags?"** I signed slowly so he could follow my hand movements.

He stared at my hands for a while and smirked a little. I smiled nervously as I waited for a response.

"Yeah." He said staring at my face. No, not at my face. My eyes.

I hesitated for a second to collect my thoughts before motioning to my hands again.

 **"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"  
**  
"Not always," he said. "But often."

He grinned. "You'll see. First, we have to get one. **"So, if another cabin captures one, do you repaint the flag?"  
**

 **"Whose side are we on?"** He gave me a sly look as if he knew something I didn't.

The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight.

"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."

The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins. Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities in order to win support. Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them. Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff but they weren't very aggressive. Aphrodite's sons and daughters I wasn't too worried about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped. Hephaestus kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem. That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet. Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.

"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!" He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.

 **"Wait, we really use real weapons and armor?**

Luke looked at me as if I were crazy. "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here." He passed me a medium set of armor and a huge shield. "Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be….with me." He seemed to pause in the middle of his last sentence. He tensed up like he was having an inner battle with himself.

My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.

Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"

We cheered and shook our swords and followed Luke down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north. I managed to keep pace with Luke without tripping over my equipment.

After running for a while Luke stopped in front of me and put a hand on my chest, signaling for me to stop. He checked his surroundings and nodded his head northwest.

"We're going to head that way. The creek is over there," He pointed behind me. "So they should have put their flag somewhere around here."

His hand drifted toward his pocket as if he were afraid I'd stolen something.

"Just wait here and watch my back." he said turning to look at me.

"It's easy. Keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me." He pushed ahead, leaving me alone near the bushes.

I sighed as I watched him leave my line of sight. I almost wish he would have let me help.

I walked over to a nearby tree and sat my stuff down so that I could move around easily. I immediately started patrolling the area around me to keep a look out for him.

It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and the bronze sword, I felt useless. And, unfortunately, like all the swords I'd tried so far, the seemed balanced of the sword handle seemed wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.

Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. Great, I thought. I'll miss all the fun, as usual. Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by. I raised my sword instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me. The growling stopped but not before I heard a branch crack. Thankfully, I felt the dark presence retreating right after.

On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.

"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed. Her eyes glared at me through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings only had the standard-issue bronze swords but it's not like that made me feel any better. They charged across the stream. And I slowly began to realize…. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin. I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not stupid.

They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. I parried in response and deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My sword arm began to feel numb, and the air around us burned with electricity. Her spear was electric. I fell back using a quick empty fade, trying to trick my attacker. It didn't work. The other Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I fell backward in the dirt. They could've kicked me or held me down, but they were too busy laughing.  
"Give him a haircut," Clarisse said. "Grab his hair."

I was not going to let that happen.

I managed to get to my feet without any problems. I raised my sword to guard but Clarisse slammed it aside with her spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.

"Oh, wow," Clarisse said while rolling her eyes. "I'm scared of this bastard. Really scared."

I decided to distract them by seemingly showing them where the flag was located. To throw them off I started randomly pointing in the wrong direction. I wanted to look confident and angry, but I was afraid.

"Yeah," one of her 'smarter' siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a bitch who made our cabin look stupid."

I glared at him and rolled my eyes dramatically.

It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do.

They glare at me and lifted their swords again. Preparing for a fight.


	15. Chapter 13- Percy POV

Two of the siblings ran at me from the left and right. I backed up toward the creek and raised my shield prepared to block the attack but before I could do anything Clarisse came up from behind me and slashed at me with her spear. Electricity raced through my spine making my collapse to the ground.

"No maiming," I managed to sign.

"Oops," the 'smart' guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege." He proceeded to push me into the creek and step on my numb arm to pin me down.

They all laughed.

I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die. But then something happened. While in the water a familiar gut feeling starting to shoot through me. I could feel the water as if it was a part of me. It seemed to wake up my senses as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jelly beans. **(I love Sally Jackson! She's gonna get a major role later because I love her so much and she deserves it! )**

I grabbed the guy's leg and yanked it off my arm, making him lose his balance and fall backward into the creek.

Clarisse and her cabin mates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them.

I could tell some of them were surprised by my stamina from the looks on their faces. Any other person who was struck like that would be down for the count already.

After getting over their surprise, three of the guys started running towards me. They probably hoped to catch me off guard but that wasn't the case.

I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water. Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick.

A fourth guy that seemed to be stepping in didn't look really anxious to attack now, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust, I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it in half.

"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"

She ran for me again, dodging my attacks, and tackled me to the ground. I tried to get up but she pinned my legs to the ground. I could feel a familiar energy flowing through my system. I couldn't allow this to happen. I tried to buck her off me but I ended up getting a punch to the face for the effort. I got one of my hands free and punched her in the chest. All the energy I felt before released at once making my fist glow with a strange purple and green light. Clarisse's eyes went wide as she flew back into a tree.

"What the hell was that Prissy?" She yelled at me. She slowly got up while picking up the two pieces of her broken spear.

I got to my feet too. It's bad strategy to stay low while your opponent stands tall. They could easily pin you down again.

I ran towards her and slashed my sword towards her hands. She blocked my attack like planned. I brought my sword back around and slammed the flat of my blade onto the top of her head. Her grip on her spears loosened and she fell backward onto the ground.

I won.

Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward me and the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids.

"Come on Percy!" Luke yelled as he snatched my arm to get me to run with him.

We passed the Ares kids as they got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.

"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick." They staggered after us, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as we ran across into friendly territory.

Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven. Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and I and started carrying us around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn. The game was over.

We'd won.

"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" a voice asked after I was put down.

I looked around confused until I realized that the voice sounded like Annabeth.

"Annabeth." I signed

The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.

"Holy Hades, That's Awesome. Can I see?" I signed to her. She stared at me with confusion until her eyes gleamed with an inner knowing.

"Oh, are you asking about my hat? Sorry, I'm not that good at silent language yet. I'm still learning some of the basics."

I nodded my head to say yes. Then slowly signed that I understood so that she could decipher it.

"The hat works like an invisibility cloak. My mother gave it to me as a gift back when I was still a newbie in camp."

I gave her a thumbs up to show my understanding and waved to end my conversation with her.

I then set off to find Luke in the crowd of people.

When I found him I tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"Aye, wassup Percy." Then he noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"

"Sword cut," I signed. "What do you think?"

"Not just a sword cut." He said looking at my body with a concerned look on his face.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me back toward the creek.

"Sorry about this." He said before pushing back into the lake.

I looked at him with a pout on my face before getting up. He wasn't looking at my face though. He was staring at my body.

I looked down and noticed that water was slowly trailing up my body. I also noticed that the same water was healing all the battle wounds that I collected throughout the day.

"What the fuck?" I signed to him.

The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar and disappeared.

"I don't get it," I signed.

Luke was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning.

He looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."

"What-"

"Just do it." I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Luke steadied me.

"Oh, Styx," He cursed. "This is not good."

Before I could ask what he meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest. The campers' cheering died instantly.

Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly: "Stand ready! My bow!"

Luke drew his sword. There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers. It was looking straight at me.

Nobody moved except Luke, who yelled, "Percy, run!"

He tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over him-an enormous shadow with teeth-and just as it hit me, I threw my hands up in a defensive manner to block the force of the beast. A purple light flashed in front of me but it didn't help much as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor, there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hound's neck sprouted a cluster of arrows.

The monster fell dead at my feet. By some miracle, I was still alive. I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut. Another second and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat. Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.

"Di immortales!" Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't ... they're not supposed to ..."

"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."

Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"

"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her. We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.

"You're wounded," Luke told me. "Quick, Percy, get back in the water."

"I'm okay." I signed, wincing as I shifted foot-to-foot. I could feel the blood running down my arm. I could feel the stinging as the wind blew against fresh flesh wounds.

"No, you're not," he said, glaring at my stubbornness.

I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me. Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.

"Look, I don't know why," I signed, trying to apologize to anyone that understood. "I'm sorry..."

But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.

Annabeth came to the front of the crowd slowly. Her eyes were wide with shock.

"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing.

"Um ..." By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green and purple light, spinning and gleaming. A trident in between two faint torches with purple flames.

"Your father and..," Annabeth murmured.

"This is really not good."

"It is determined," Chiron announced. All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.

"My father...and?" I asked, completely bewildered.

"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses. Hecate, goddess of magic, sorcery, witchcraft, crossroads, trivial knowledge, and necromancy. Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God and the Magician.


End file.
